This Rec League comes from Anne. Thanks, Anne!
I have an odd request that may be too narrow for a Rec League, but I thought I would ask. I am looking for books that are set or partially set in New York State, outside of NYC/Long Island.
I’m originally from Central New York and have family who live or lived throughout “upstate NY” and I enjoy books where I can visit familiar places.
I have read and enjoyed Sara Donati’s Into the Wildersness family saga which is partially set in the Adirondacks, Julia Spencer Fleming’s mystery series set in Miller’s Kill, Maria Vale’s werewolf series (Adirondacks), Kristan Higgins’ Blue Heron series (Finger Lakes), and Alice Clayton’s Hudson Valley series. Both Alisha Rai (Western NY) and Jennifer Probst (Hudson Valley) have written a lot of books and I think I’ve read most of their back lists.
I recently read one of Kate Willoughby’s books that is partially set in Ithaca and although I didn’t pick up the book because of the setting, it was a pleasant surprise.
I am particularly interested in books set in or around the Thousand Islands or anywhere along the St. Lawrence River.
Amanda: I know you already mentioned Alice Clayton’s Hudson Valley series, but I’m mentioning it again because it’s great.
If you’re into YA fantasy, This Poison Heart I believe is set in Rhinebeck – creepy old house, killer plants, magic!
Kiki: Ooo I am deeply interested in these recs bc I also love reading books set in places I know really well and I grew up in the Finger Lakes!
Sarah: Alisha Rai’s Hate to Want You and the rest are set in upstate New York – near or in Rochester if I am remembering correctly which I may not be.
Many of Ellen Hartman’s Harlequin Superromances were set upstate. Oh – and Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane is set in Ithaca.
Claudia: The Widow of Rose House is set in Hyde Park during the Gilded Age (with some of the early action set in New York City).
Tara: Many of Georgia Beers’s romances are set in upstate New York. A good place to start might be her Puppy Love trilogy, which has a different couple getting together in each book. The first one is called Rescued Heart. ( A | BN )
Shana: Adriana Herrera’s Dreamer series is set in Ithaca. I recommend reading them in order, which you’ll want to do anyway because American Dreamer has a cute plot about a chef moving from NYC to Ithaca.
Maya: Haven by Rebekah Weatherspoon is set in upstate New York on a farm!!
Amanda: Maybe The Companion by E.E. Ottoman? I remember the description mentions leaving New York for a more rural area.
What books would you recommend?
Ooh, yes, Alisha Rai’s Forbidden Hearts series is wonderful! The formula is basically a soap opera (two rival families) plus Wegman’s. They’re soapy and sexy and generally fabulous (and got me back into contemporary romance.)
I believe Lucy March’s Nodaway Falls trilogy is set in a fictional, magical, small town in upstate New York.
The Dutch Girl by Donna Thorland is a Revolutionary War historical spy story, set in both NYC and the Hudson River Valley, but I don’t remember what the relative percentage time in each is. She’s a really good writer, my favorite is Turncoat, also Revolutionary War spies, akin to Joanna Bourne.
Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon was set in the same universe as Haven and was one of my favorite pandemic reads. #allthecomfort
A series I just finished, Amelia Wilde’s six-book Bliss Brothers, is set on a resort in upstate New York. I don’t know that you really get a strong sense of place from the books, but they are fun romances—quite different from Wilde’s more recent and much darker books.
I believe an old Anne Stuart is set in up state New York. Shadow Lover was published in the 90s and it may not have held up. I haven’t read it in years. Forced proximity if that’s your jam.
The Widow of Rose Hill is good – I think I got it through a SBTB on-sale notice.
For a stand-alone, a lot of Wen Spencer’s Black Wolves of Boston takes place in upstate New York. It’s a very different take on werewolves, but you have other paranormal beings involved, including some descended from angels.
AMERICAN DREAMER by Adriana Herrera.
For Nesto Vasquez, moving his Afro-Caribbean food truck from New York City to the wilds of Upstate New York is a huge gamble. Jude Fuller is proud of the life he’s built on the banks of Cayuga Lake.
I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure about the strength of the sense of place.
Sorry, I somehow missed that you already had that one.
I never know how to “shelve” Anne Bishop’s The Others series, but her follow-on/sequel series (The World of the Others) has a couple of books set in the area of Finger Lakes. LAKE SILENCE and the upcoming CROW BONES are set in that area of New York, even though it’s not really New York. Some of the action in several of The Others books also take place up around there. Yeah, yeah. I know. Totally way out in left field, but there ya go. LOL
Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole takes place in NY state near the Canadian border after the power grid collapses. There are two more books in the series; I haven’t read them but I liked Radio Silence.
And, of course, there’s the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series, which takes place in upstate New York.
Isn’t JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series partly set in upstate NY? I only read the first one and it didn’t have a strong sense of place IMO, but maybe other books in the series do, though I think the series moves around to different locations.
A second vote for Widow of Rose House, loved that book. Though if I’m remembering correctly, 1-2 chapters are in NYC, if that’s a dealbreaker.
@Todd already confirmed my question about Black Dagger series!
The Longest Night by E. E. Ottoman is another queer historical romance set in upstate New York.
Patience and Sarah by Isobel Miller is an older ff historical romance set in upstate New York and Connecticut in the early 1800s.
I think that The Threefold Tie by Aster Glenn Gray is also set in upstate New York. It’s a lovely mmf queer poly novella.
I second the Xeni recommendation. It’s set in and around an apple farm in upstate New York and it’s just lovely. Marriage of convenience bi m/f romance with lots of found family.
I think Susan Wiggs’ Lakeshore Chronicles is set in NY state but I’m not sure how strong the sense of place is.
For m/m: Riven and Rend by Roan Parrish, the first and second books in the Riven series. There are some scenes in NYC, but the juxtaposition only heightens the strong feeling of upstate New York in those books.
Thousand Islands!!! I would love to read a romance set in the Thousand Islands (although I’m more familiar with the Canadian side. southeastern ontario represent!) Now I am craving a cross-border romance set in, like, Ogdensburg or something.
Stacey Agdern’s entry in the Rogue Affair anthology, Mr. Klein Goes to Albany, is set partly in Albany, with (if I recall correctly) a road trip to Buffalo. It has hockey, Canadian Content, food descriptions, and trade policy, so many things that are my catnip! I think some of her other books are also set in upstate NY but I haven’t read them.
@saby: I’m not trying to hijack the thread—this book is not set in New York State—but if you’d like to read a cross-border romance, Zoe York’s WHAT ONCE WAS PERFECT is very good. It’s part of her Wardham series (which is primarily set in Canada), but in WHAT ONCE WAS PERFECT, the heroine is a doctor, originally from Wardham, now practicing in Chicago; the hero is her ex, a teacher who still lives and works in Wardham. They reconnect when she visits her family for Christmas and they have to decide if they can make their long-distance/cross-border relationship work. York writes great small-town romances, steamy, with plenty of heart & emotion.
If you don’t mind Inspy, many of Ruth Logan Herne’s books are set in upstate New York, where she lives.
Debut author Lauren Accardo has a new series set in the Adirondacks. The first is Wild Love, and the second book, Sweet Love, comes out in September. The setting of these books is amazing!
I have no recs, I’m just clarifying, because I thought I was going crazy/remembering incorrectly (usually, frankly, that would be the correct assumption), but I checked, and Haven takes place in CA.
Seneca Falls historical mystery series by Miriam Grace Monfredo features a librarian sleuth. The first book, Seneca Falls Inheritance, is set during the Seneca Falls Convention.
Also, City of Light by Lauren Belfer is a literary mystery with a female protagonist nset in Buffalo in 1910 that is strongly based on historical events of the time period.
Lucy Score’s Blue Moon series of small town romances is set in upstate New York. To me they seemed more typical of the small town subgenre rather than particularly upstatey, but they were definitely fun reads, especially the first one.
Debra Anastasia’s Poughkeepsie series.
I second the Adriana Herrera m/m books (American Dreamer and American Love Story) plus the Miriam Grace Monfredo historical mysteries. I’m enjoying this thread as I have strong family roots in the Finger Lakes region…yay upstate!!
@Leslee Friedman – Yes! I thought something might be off.
Haven is set in California but the next book in the series, Sanctuary, Beards & Bondage #2, is set on an apple farm in NY state. And the owner of the farm is the hero of Xeni.
There’s at least one Carol Goodman novel set there. I thought The Inn at Lake Devine was, but it’s actually Vermont, but still a good book!
and please give it up for TRIXIE BELDEN…..
Perfect Pairing by Rachel Spangler is a great lesbian romance novel set in Buffalo, between a food truck chef and an investment banker.
I think a number of Kristan Higgins books are also set in New York State, but not NYC. Maybe the Blue Heron series?
Forbidden Hearts by Alisha Rai is not set any near Rodchester. It’s set closer to NYC. I remember at one point they go to White Plains.
@Ceece – I’m late reading the post today, but I thought immediately of Kristan Higgins’ Blue Heron series. They’re all fun but thoughtful romances, and the descriptions of the wine country are terrific – it’s been years since I read any of the books, but I can vividly remember the descriptions of the vineyards, the tasting areas, and the wonderful grandparents!
Another upstate New York-based possibility is the Clare Fergusson series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. A very slow burn romance, and at least a murder or two in every book, they convey life in a far-from-the-city part of New York very well.
Carly Phillips’ Serendipity books are set in Putnam County, although they suggest an NYC-informed sensibility by referring to the area as ‘upstate.’ I also vaguely remember a romance where the heroine is a district attorney in Putnam County, which I suspect is part of this series.
The Lake of Dead Languages, a bonkers gothic mystery/horror, is set somewhere upstate– I thought it was in the Hudson Valley, but I might just be remembering the narrator’s obsession with Vassar. Dragonwyck by Anya Seton reads like an American fanfiction of Jane Eyre set in Hudson.
If you’re open to something older (and not trying to be fun), William Kennedy’s Legs is set in Albany. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton features a trip to Rhinebeck, though most of it takes place in the city. There’s also Dragonwyck by Anya Seton, which so far reads like a fanfic of Jane Eyre set in Hudson.
@Emily A, you may be right, but as someone who’s spent a little bit of time in and out of the radius of NYC, it doesn’t feel like Westchester– especially since Alisha Rai is from Western NY.
Beth Saulnier had a series of mysteries with romantic elements set in Ithaca, NY. Not sure if they are easily available, but they were good. Reliable Sources was the first one in the series (Alex Bernier Mysteries).
Thanks to everyone, this has given me a very long wish list and will definitely blow what is left of my book budget for September. Delighted to find so many people with “upstate” connections, who also read romance. I appreciate the wide range of books that have been suggested and, although I’ve read some of them, there are many that I haven’t and many new to me authors.
I’m happy to learn that I’m not the only person who read the Forbidden Hearts series and thought of Wegmans, although I don’t think its origin story is anywhere near as interesting.
Saby — I can’t believe that you mentioned Ogdensburg, which is a place that I’m very familiar with, because I have had relatives living there on and off since the 1960s until this year. When I visited, sometimes my phone data would switch to international, even if we didn’t cross the river, because we were so close to the border. Drove me nuts the first couple times it happened! I have yet to find any books set in the 1000 Islands, but if I find any — I’ll definitely post about them.
Carol — I read so many Trixie Belden books as a child, I can’t believe I forgot to include them on my list of upstate NY books. Thanks for the reminder.
One last “upstate” comment. My parents used to buy wine in jugs from Finger Lakes wineries, which had screw caps. Boy was it a culture shock, when I started college and discovered that people from NYC thought it was tacky to drink wine from a jug, much less from a bottle with a screw cap!
Autumn Jones Lake has a great MC series in upstate. Jean Gordon has some wonderful sweet books in the area. Also Jeanette Gray and Kathryn Biel both have books for upstate NY. Ginny Frost has two series in the area The Oakwood Tavern series and Stonewater Stories, a little steamy and fun!
Nuts by Alice Clayton (that whole series) takes place in upstate New York. How sweet it is by Dylan Newton takes place in a small town outside of Buffalo.
Rhys Bowen’s Molly Murphy series of historical mysteries are usually set in NYC, but a few take place in the Hudson Valley (In Like Flynn, The Ghost of Christmas Past). There is a romance for the main character, but it’s secondary to the mystery plots.
Stacey Agdern’s Friendship and Festivals romance series is set partially in NYC and partially in fictional upstate NY, at least the first two (Miracles and Menorahs; History of Us) are, and the third one which comes out in mid-October appears to be as well.
I love this post as a lifelong western new yorker! Not a romance, but the ghost/suspense novel The Sun Down Motel got an enthusiastic review on this site. It’s set in a sleepy, declining small town in rural NY and I thought it had an excellent sense of place. All the way through I Was picturing the cut-off-from-main-highways hotel with woods at the edge of its parking lot, the aging low-rise apartments in town that the MC lives in with its nearby laundromat, the bridge at the edge of town with graffiti on its green-painted metal.. The town has a small eccentric old academy of classical learning, and yeah you find eccentric institutions in NY small towns that used to be more prosperous than they are…